Michigan State Hockey Sets Program Record, Aims For More In 2024
Michigan State men's ice hockey has enjoyed a resurgence during the second year of head coach Adam Nightingale's tenure and finds itself in contention for its first regular season Big Ten championship in over two decades.
Heading into a massive two-game series against in-state rival Michigan, Spartans currently lead the Big Ten standings at 12-4-2 in conference play. Those 12 Big Ten wins are new single-season record for Michigan State, and the Spartans have six more opportunities to add to their record total.
Hard work and striving for improvement are keys to the culture of the Nightingale Era.
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) February 6, 2024
Not an end goal, just a benchmark. pic.twitter.com/V6xUQ1o1la
The final push for a conference crown begins this weekend, when No. 9 Michigan State travels to No. 11 Michigan (7-7-1 Big Ten) on Friday (7 p.m.) before a second matchup with the Wolverines at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit for the "Duel in the D". The Spartans split a two-game series with their rivals earlier this season, suffering a 7-1 defeat in East Lansing before coming back from a three-goal deficit to stun the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, 7-5.
After battling Michigan this weekend, Michigan State will then turn its attention to back-to-back home games against Ohio State (1-15-1), the Big Ten's last-place team, over the weekend of Feb. 24-25. Then comes the biggest series of them all, when the Spartans travel to Madison for a matchup with second-place Wisconsin (11-4-1) for a final two games which could determine the champions of the Big Ten. Michigan State has not won a regular season conference title since 2001.
In 2022-23, Nightingale took over a program that was reeling, having suffered seven consecutive losing seasons and having not finished above .500 in Big Ten play since 2014-15. In his first year, Nightingale led Michigan State to an 18-18-2 record overall, with an 8-12 mark in Big Ten play. In Year 2, the head coach has led the Spartans to an 18-7-3 overall record and has MSU in position to end its conference championship draught.
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